Robbin Brown, Executive Director of HopeKids said: “We strive to surround families with the message that hope is a powerful medicine.”
The organization has six chapters in Colorado, Arizona, Minnesota, Tennessee, Texas and Kansas City.
Three staff members, including Brown, run the Colorado chapter. In 2021, we hosted 353 different events across the state for families.
Brown appreciates the support from event partners. Our event partners offer opportunities at reduced or no cost, and volunteers have made it possible for HopeKids to host so many events.
“We’re trying to connect other families with families who know exactly what they’re going through because they’ve been through it themselves,” Brown said.
Thornton resident Niki Cooper and her family have attended HopeKids events since 2018.
“Dario is the funniest kid on the planet,” Niki said. “The moment he walks into a room, he lights everyone up. He has this contagious laugh. He has a beautiful smile. He has a way of connecting with people. can bring out the best in people.”
Families with children with medical complications can have difficulty navigating the available resources, Niki said.
“You can’t find anything if you don’t know if it’s there or even where to start,” she said.
Niki and her family have yet to meet another child with the same diagnosis as Dario within HopeKids, but have met other families with children with medical complications. Discuss and share resources.
“The relationship between having a child with a complicated medical problem and being a support person for each other is really great,” Niki said.
Niki added that HopeKids events also provide opportunities for families to have fun and relax.
“We are often so busy with hospital visits, appointments and all things child illness, that we lose sight of what it means to be a normal family and do normal family things,” she said. Told.
The first HopeKids event that the Middlestaedt family attended was a Rocky game. Christina said it was a special moment.
“We’re from Germany, so we didn’t grow up with baseball,” Christina explained. “Experiencing this atmosphere in a stadium and watching a professional baseball game was really special for us, something we couldn’t do before Jessica’s major surgery.”
Jessica told Rocky Mountain PBS she was nervous at first. But when she arrived at the event, people were so understanding that she found the experience to be much easier than she thought.
The Middlestaedt family now attends HopeKids events on a regular basis each month.
“Everyone can meet someone who can relate to them,” Jessica said. She said, “Your parents can meet people… Siblings can meet other siblings and even other seriously ill children. And you can also see, ‘Hey, I’m not alone.'” . I’m not alone ‘”
Theresa Ho is a digital content producer for RMPBS Kids.you can contact her [email protected].
Julio Sandoval is a multimedia journalist for Rocky Mountain PBS.you can contact him [email protected].
